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NextImg:Analyzing Blackhawks’ forward lines, defense pairs on finalized NHL roster

The Blackhawks have finalized their NHL roster for opening night Tuesday against the Penguins.

The last wave of transactions included sending Joey Anderson (after he cleared waivers) and Isaak Phillips to the AHL, placing Philipp Kurashev (left wrist) on injured reserve and giving Colin Blackwell, Colton Dach and others injured/non-roster designations. Those moves brought the team down to the 23-man limit.

Based on the forward lines and defensive pairings the Hawks deployed in practice Monday, here’s a line-by-line breakdown of the roster:

Forward lines

Taylor Hall — Connor Bedard — Ryan Donato

The Hawks’ top line around their star rookie has been established since the early days of training camp.

Hall and Bedard will likely be stapled together most of the season, and their skills already seem to mesh well. They outscored opponents 3-1 and posted a 68.4% expected-goals ratio during their preseason five-on-five ice time together. Donato’s quietly excellent shot provides a complementary option.

Tyler Johnson — Lukas Reichel — Taylor Raddysh

How Reichel fares in his first month as a full-time NHL center will be interesting to follow. Can he maintain his production rate from late last season (15 points in 23 games) while handling more defensive duties and winning a respectable percentage of faceoffs?

Johnson’s presence could help on faceoffs while Raddysh’s presence could help defensively, as well as around the net.

Nick Foligno — Jason Dickinson — Corey Perry

This is another line that stayed together throughout camp.

Foligno and Perry — the Hawks’ two ultra-veteran additions — will happily scrap in the dirty areas, stand up for teammates and boost the special-teams units. Dickinson is readjusting to their grinding style after playing further up the lineup at times last season.

Boris Katchouk — Cole Guttman — Andreas Athanasiou

A hodgepodge of different types of players at the moment, this line might not last long once the scratches rotate into the lineup, Philipp Kurashev returns from injury and Athanasiou gets inevitably moved up for an offensive boost.

Guttman’s performance coming off shoulder surgery and starting a season in the NHL for the first time will be noteworthy.

Extras: MacKenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson

Entwistle was impressive during camp and might be poised to claim more ice time as the season progresses. Johnson provides a physical, happy-to-fight element that’s unique on this roster.

Defense pairs

Alex Vlasic — Seth Jones

The Hawks’ three defensive pairs, each comprised of one veteran and one rookie, will probably split five-on-five ice time fairly equally, so the order isn’t very important.

Jones will certainly play more on the power play, though, and the Hawks have been designing their scheme to get him more involved there than in past years.

Kevin Korchinski — Connor Murphy

It makes sense to put Korchinski — the most offense-focused, risk-taking defenseman out of the three rookies — with Murphy, the longest-tenured and most defensively responsible.

It’s still unclear whether Korchinski will stick all season on the Hawks or go back to the WHL at some point. Coach Luke Richardson’s message to him Monday was, “Congratulations, you’ve earned the spot, but now it’s [work] every day to keep it.”

Jarred Tinordi — Wyatt Kaiser

Kaiser will get opportunities to play with more versatile partners, too, but Tinordi — who worked on improving his balance and reducing his injury susceptibility this summer — provides a stabilizing presence for now.

Extra: Nikita Zaitsev

Zaitsev struggled just as much in preseason action as he did after his trade to Chicago last spring, but he remains optimistic his summer training changes will eventually pay off.

Goaltenders

Petr Mrazek — Arvid Soderblom

Mrazek will start the Hawks’ season opener in Pittsburgh after saving 38 of 40 shots in a memorable Hawks upset win there late last season. Soderblom, meanwhile, will start the following night against the Bruins.

The two goalies will likely split duties this autumn, but the Hawks would enjoy seeing Soderblom emerge as the ‘1A’ starter as the season progresses.